R.I.P.: Singer Amy Winehouse Dies at Age 27. Some just shrug, but I find this very sad, as she wasted a lot of talent. And as is widely noted, she is other addition to the unfortunate "27 Club" (thanks nin). Years ago iconoclastic baseball statistician Bill James did a study that showed that the age of 27 was the most likely point for a player to have a standout season compared with the rest of his career, and in a later study found that player's defensive skills began to decline at the age of 27, as well, suggesting this is some sort of peak age. I'm not sure that there's a connection there, but every time the spate of dead 27 year-old musicians comes up, this pops to mind.

There's plenty of musicians who just wanted to be musicians, and weren't really looking for fame and all that. Just because it happened to them doens't mean they wanted it to and are orchestrating it all. I'm pretty sure celebrities also have money problems - why are you thinking about it in almost totally financial terms??

Musicians are not forced to do photo shoots, music videos or interviews on late night talk shows. If you simply want to be a musician, there's nothing stopping you from recording your music and releasing it on the net. The people who sign with big labels and appear on shows like American Idol don't just want to be musicians. They want to be celebrities.

I'm certain you haven't the slightest clue as to what true addiction really entails. Even bringing in the concept of "natural selection". You have no idea how stupid that sounded. Natural selection works on a lower level than choosing to do drugs, not to mention it doesn't really happen with humans any more.

You can't become addicted to something you've never tried. Taking your first drink or hit requires you to make a choice. Taking the second drink or hit also requires you to make a choice, unless you can somehow become addicted after a single try, which I highly doubt.

There's plenty of musicians who just wanted to be musicians, and weren't really looking for fame and all that. Just because it happened to them doens't mean they wanted it to and are orchestrating it all. I'm pretty sure celebrities also have money problems - why are you thinking about it in almost totally financial terms??

I'm certain you haven't the slightest clue as to what true addiction really entails. Even bringing in the concept of "natural selection". You have no idea how stupid that sounded. Natural selection works on a lower level than choosing to do drugs, not to mention it doesn't really happen with humans any more. Bunch of fuckin idiots.

There's a lot of cr@p going on that "us normals" never even have to consider... pressure, paparazzi, fans, haters, not being able to walk down the street in private, etc.

There's a lot of crap us "normals" have to consider that celebrities don't. Like being able to pay rent. Or car insurance. Or health insurance. Or the electric bill. Or the gas bill. Or the water bill. Or food. Or tuition. Or being able to keep/find a job so we can support our family.

Movie and music stars chose to become celebrities. They knew full well what it entailed. You sacrifice privacy and anonymity for fame and fortune. Them's the breaks. Paparazzi and Youtube are no excuse for becoming a junkie or alcoholic.

The problem with much of the "addiction is a disease" rhetoric is that, while largely true, it removes all responsibility from the individual.

Exactly. You always have a choice. Junkies and alcoholics made their choice and suffered for it. Could they have stopped after the first drink/hit? I'm sure they could have. I have yet to read of any studies where a person becomes an alcoholic or junkie after their first try. It's far more likely that such people became addicts because they offered no resistance. They didn't like their lives and drugs/alcohol offered them relief, so they took the easy way out instead of trying to make things better. Apathy is always the simplest choice.

Actually, I'll have to disagree with the "always" here. While I'm sure some small portion of the world's population was sad to hear she died, a vast majority just sighed and shrugged. And if saying drugs are bad is being on a high horse than I hope I never get off my damn high horse.

This is funny, I told someone to fuck off a little while ago and my comment was deleted, yet you're all making assumptions about someone dying, have determined the cause of death, and are passing judgment when she's not yet cold in her grave. It's always sad when someone dies, and I don't need to hear you guys rehash stuff I've heard about 3000 times before (DRUGS ARE BAD MMMKAY??) Get off your high horses.

Genesys wrote on Jul 24, 2011, 23:43:188 Pixels in SeaMonkey (zero if I hit F11). Title bar, menu bar, address bar, bookmark bar, tab bar, and status bar at the bottom. I use them all and don't want anyone removing them.

You've gone too far! Bookmark bars are for losers! No one should even have the choice!

I'm torn between cheering the fact there is one less self-destructive, headline-grabbing load on society and feeling sad that the poor girl never got the help she needed. I felt the same way with Anna Nicole Smith, and if Lindsay Lohan eventually assumes room temperature prematurely because of her lifestyle then I'll feel the same way again I imagine.

And addiction is NOT like Cancer. At all.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Jonny5 wrote on Jul 24, 2011, 17:44: As someone that KNOWS addiction, and not from TV shows or text books, Some of you have NO Idea how clueless you sound. For some that are addicted, It would be like going to the cancer ward and telling them "DONT HAVE CANCER, JUST STOP HAVING CANCER"

Unless you're born a crack baby this makes no sense. Addiction might be a difficult thing to overcome but it's a road of choices that lead to a predictable destination. I'm all for people overcoming adversity but you need to remember some people made choices that put them in that situation and have to make the choice to get out of it.

Lord Tea wrote on Jul 25, 2011, 06:32:I shrug. No one forces you to do hard drugs. If you OD, natural selection kicks in.

I see the issue as blurry, and this is coming from a guy that *might* have 2 beers a year

On one hand, it's the person's fault to start taking drugs. Maybe there were other factors in play (social / psychological / forced / etc) but usually that first hit is the person's fault.

However, the whole addiction thing is when it get's hazy.

I've heard some people equate it to "why don't they stop" thinking it's like their "addiction" to Potato Chips or something... that the person is simply choosing to open a bag of chips. There's a lot more going on than that... an addict simply isn't weak there's an actual chemical thing going on.

Meanwhile, money and fame isn't just an easy-mode button; there IS a lot of stress. There's a lot of cr@p going on that "us normals" never even have to consider... pressure, paparazzi, fans, haters, not being able to walk down the street in private, etc. Sure sometimes that's great but imagine if everything you did was caught on camera, put on YouTube, talked about during the news, and meanwhile had people hounding you.

This comment was edited on Jul 25, 2011, 08:37.

"Space. It seems to go on and on forever. But then you get to the end and a gorilla starts throwing barrels at you." -Fry, Futurama

And to all you people talking Drugs this , drugs that. If Alcohol were invented Tomorrow , it would be classified worse then crack, heroin,weed and all the rest of them.

I wonder which one leads to more car accidents? Pretty sure they should both be banned. It really is depressing seeing people stumble out of bars at night, barely able to walk. If your life is so sad that you have to get high and/or hammered to help you forget it, you should either seek help or kill yourself. I have zero sympathy for junkies or alcoholics.